We almost waited too long for the passage across to Menorca! The winds had abated so much that we motored all the way, using the sails only to add a bit of stability and increase the boat speed by half a knot or so. It was a gentle passage, with a moonlit night, and plenty of dolphin sightings, with the dolphins eager to play in our bow waves, much to our delight.
We got a surprise whilst still nearly 50 miles off shore – a pigeon, clearly exhausted and almost certainly lost, flew over our boat and decided we might be a safe haven and resting stop. He/she landed on the Genoa sheets and moved between there and the mast spreaders, hitching a ride for the entire remaining journey: some six hours, flying off only as we entered Fornells bay on the north coast of Menorca.
We picked Fornells because it is such a beautiful and tranquil place, perfectly sheltered from just about all weather conditions, and we had stayed here in 2021. We dropped anchor in the bay and took life easy for a while: relaxing on the boat and making occasional trips ashore to visit the local bars and restaurants. It was the perfect place to catch up on sleep after the overnight passage.
Eventually it was time to move on, and we sailed around the island to the old walled city of Ciutadella on the western tip. This was a much livelier spot, packed with tourists wandering around the old port and associated fortifications, and enjoying the nightlife in the harbour. It is another place we have visited before, and it is only the prohibitively high cost of staying in the harbour that stops us staying longer. Ciutadella is also a good point from which to set sail for Mallorca, which we did with fair winds, arriving in the sheltered bay of Porto Colom on Mallorca’s eastern coast. From there it was just a short hop to the next bay of Porto Petrus – also a lovely bay, though not as well sheltered and we had to put up with a rolly night on our mooring.
Next stop, and a longer passage, was to Palma itself. For a while on our passage across we sailed alongside a very smart Najad 380 – the sister ship to our previous boat that we owned from 2009 to 2018. Arriving in Palma we have moored in the Real Club Nautico marina. It is one of the cheapest in the bay (most other marinas cater to the numerous super yachts that are all around us). Despite that, it is also one of the best, with friendly staff and a great location to get out and see a bit of Palma.
It is also a good place to get work done, and we had some work to do! Foolishly, and despite spending hours agonising over the fitting, when we got our wind turbine installed over the winter, we realised only too late that we had got it fitted on the wrong side, and the mast obstructed the movement of our wind vane self-steering (Note to Gary: measure twice and cut once is good advice!). So we are trying to get the mounting reinstalled, which needs some additional steel fabrication work. Unfortunately, the company we first contacted, who were very keen in their email correspondence, were rather less keen when they turned up to see what was involved, and saw that we were not the super yacht customers that they were expecting. Fortunately, we have found someone who (we hope) will be doing the work in the next few days – and fitting a bracket to mount our new Starlink satellite system, too.
Cate has returned to the UK for a few days to celebrate a joint 60th birthday party for her friends Sally and Sarah. Meanwhile, I have remained on board and am busying myself with other jobs – fixing a loose water pump, splicing ropes, cleaning the decks, and so on. Cate will be back tomorrow, but I think we will remain in Palma for a few days yet until the work is finished.
Measure twice cut once only the owner of a carpenter’s square edge pencil would know that! Your days sound lovely as ever. Xx
Measure twice cut once only the owner of a carpenter’s square edge pencil would know that! Your days sound lovely as ever. Xx
I think the real trouble was that I measured at least a dozen times and got distracted by the tiny detail rather than looking at the bigger picture. Perhaps I should return the square edge pencil?